Tag Archives: focused thinking

A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail

Posted on November 6, 2023 | Comments Off on A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail

A bias for action can help you do big things and reach big goals. In big projects, it’s vital in the delivery phase, which should be fast. But it hurts the planning phase, where it’s better to be slow.

In episode 66 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1) A bias for action feels productive but can also backfire and cause big failure in big projects.

2) Every big project has 2 basic phases: Planning and Delivery.

3) In their book, How Big Things Get Done, authors Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner note that 99.5 percent of megaprojects go over budget, over schedule, fail to deliver promised results, or have some combination of these.

4) Failed projects use the Think Fast, Act Slow approach (rushed, superficial planning before project delivery). Successful projects apply the Think Slow, Act Fast pattern (careful, precise planning before project delivery).

5) To do big things, apply the Think Slow, Act Fast approach with these 5 action tips:

i) Tip #1 – Commit to not committing.

ii) Tip #2 – Think from right to left.

iii) Tip #3 – Tinker, test, and experiment.

iv) Tip #4 – Figure out what’s your LEGO – your basic building block – and keep adding one block to another.

v) Tip #5 – Take the outside view, not just the inside view.

6) Why the significance of planning is often downplayed: The Principle of the Hiding Hand and the Theory of Beneficial Ignorance or Providential Ignorance.

You don’t need to be deep in delivery mode to spark creative ideas. Use the think slow, act fast pattern to plan carefully, deliver effectively, and get the best results in big projects.

To learn more by reading the transcript, go here.

To listen to A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail, click here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist podcast at Apple Podcasts or other apps.

Watch the video on our YouTube channel, The Incrementalist – A Productivity Show. And subscribe to the show to keep making big changes in small steps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

SUBSCRIBE           CONTACT

Comments Off on A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail

Posted in competence, diligence, lawyer well-being, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

Tagged , ,

How to Control Your Attention

Posted on December 3, 2021 | Comments Off on How to Control Your Attention

Where is your attention right now?

Do you know how to refocus when it drifts off?

Do you know when to just stay open to what’s happening?

There are news stories and articles on how we have the attention span of a goldfish. You might have heard that with the Internet, we can now only focus for 8 seconds at a time. The good news is there are no studies to back this up.

There is also a common belief that we use only 10% of our brain. The entire brain is being used, but some parts are more activated than others. Having a peak mind is more about knowing where your attention is than whether or not you’re hyper-focused or hyper-vigilant. 

In episode 42 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1. We miss out on 50% of our lives because our attention is scattered and distracted.

2. In a given experience, moment or task, it’s important to ask yourself: Where is your attention now? Is it where you want it to be?

3. A wandering mind is not a real problem if you have meta-awareness or metacognition, i.e. to be aware of your awareness, or to pay attention to your attention.

4. The three different types of attention –
a) The Flashlight is when your attention is more singular, narrow and focused on a particular thing. It gives you privileged information, selects and filters out, and emphasizes content.

b) The Floodlight is when your attention is broad, receptive and open to whatever is happening now. It does not privilege any information, is open to inputs, and emphasizes time.

c) The Juggler is the manager and executive control system. It interprets the information from the flashlight and floodlight systems and determines whether your goals and behavior are aligned.

5. Even when you get rid of all the digital distractions, you will still have attention problems. Getting bored with a task, for example, can steer us toward online entertainment if we don’t know how to use boredom to our benefit.

6. Being distractable is human. It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. We need it to avoid danger and predators. The capacity to mentally time travel is useful for thinking, reflecting, planning, visualizing, and dreaming.

But it also causes us to miss out on the moment, catastrophize about the future, ruminate on the past, or be preoccupied with things we don’t control. This can lead to high stress, anxiety, brain fog and depleted attention. So, you need to train yourself to direct your focus on where it has to be. 

7. Mindfulness training is key to developing your attention. Examples are:
a) Focused attention on the breadth
b) The S.T.O.P. practice (stop, take a breath, observe, proceed)
c) Open monitoring or open awareness meditation

8) Invest at least 12 minutes a day on mental training exercises to declutter your mind and develop your attention span

9) When you’re too focused, you miss the big picture and the context of the situation.  If you’re too open, you can become indecisive. 

You need to have all three systems in play to perform at your peak. The flashlight lets you keep your eye on the ball, the floodlight helps you to scan the field, and the juggler allows you to stay in and win the game. 

Sources cited: 

To listen to episode 42, How to Control Your Attention, click here. If you prefer to read the transcript, go here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

SUBSCRIBE           CONTACT

Comments Off on How to Control Your Attention

Posted in communication, competence, diligence, lawyer well-being, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

Tagged , ,

Focused vs. Diffused Thinking: You Need Both to Learn and Solve Problems, The Incrementalist, Ep. 11

Posted on March 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Focused vs. Diffused Thinking: You Need Both to Learn and Solve Problems, The Incrementalist, Ep. 11

To learn new concept and skills, you need to engage both the focused mode and diffused mode of thinking. Learning is a meta skill that allows you to turn information into intelligence and knowledge into expertise. If you know how to learn, you can broaden your passions and not just follow existing ones.

To solve problems, you must access and activate the neural networks in your brain.  There’s the task-positive network and the task-negative network. Task-positive is focused mode. And task-negative is diffused mode. You cannot use both at the same time. Instead, you move from one to the next to fully understand a problem and generate the best ideas to solve it.

In episode 11 of The Incrementalist podcast, you will discover:

  • The difference between the focused mode and the diffused mode of thinking
  • The reasons you need both modes to learn new things and solve problems
  • The limitations of the focused mode, e.g. Einstellung effect
  • The limitations of the diffused mode, e.g. lack of deliberate practice
  • Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison’s use of micronaps (hypnagogia) to get unstuck and generate ideas
  • How to activate each thinking mode and move from one mode to the other
  • Why mind mapping is better than linear note taking for connecting ideas and seeing the big picture

Resources cited: 

Stay focused & diffused,

Dyan Williams

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps. 

SUBSCRIBE           CONTACT

Comments Off on Focused vs. Diffused Thinking: You Need Both to Learn and Solve Problems, The Incrementalist, Ep. 11

Posted in communication, competence, diligence, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

Tagged , , ,